Rocker MC regulars, clockwise from far left: Luck Henderson, Jason Stafford, Jake Aloia, Amanda Bury, Monk Schane-Lydon, Tyler Farnsworth, Messiah Vision, and Helen Cohen. (Photos by Gregory Cherin and Dan Carp)

Some think the face of motorcycling is aging. Not so in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where one man is bringing the biker zeitgeist to Bard College at Simon?s Rock. Known as ?The Rock,? it?s an early college that gives 10th and 11th graders the experience of post-secondary life at a tender age. Many students graduate with a bachelor?s degree at age 20, which I did in the ?80s, and it was the smartest decision I ever made.

Monk Schane-Lydon hopes students will also leave the school with a love of heavy metal thunder. Monk, a former Air Force helicopter crew chief, is an adjunct instructor and advisor to the Simon?s Rock Motorcycle Club, or ?Rocker MC,? a self-funded club that restores old bikes.
?Our first bike was a Honda CX500,? Monk told me. ?It came in boxes and was essentially a $100 donation of parts.?

A couple years ago, the Rockers hosted me for a reading during my national book tour for Spirit Traffic. I was so inspired and impressed by their passion that I chased them down for a series of phone interviews.

Related: Riding From Gunnison, Colorado, to Hovenweep National Monument,
by C. Jane Taylor

Rocker MC, or just ?Club? as the students call it, is the brainchild of Sean Lamoureux, who brought bikes to students for a spring term worksh...